To Be Loved The Way You Love Me
by muggleborn.dragon.ryder
Summary: Life on Berk turns upside down when a sixteen year old boy traveling with a dark past, a world of hurt, and a Night Fury washes up on its shores. The love-starved boy will only tell people two things about his past: His name is Hiccup. He came from Outcast Island. But what happened there? And why doesn't he trust anyone?
1. Hurt The Human And Die

**A/N: SO this is my new HTTYD story that might be a little hard to complete, cuz I've never written one like this before, where Hiccup hasn't spent at least a small part of his life on Berk. Well, read and review and until next time!**

* * *

Stoick was in his hut at the end of a long day when that Astrid Hofferson girl burst in.

"Stoick, sir," she exclaimed, her eyes wide, "there's something you should see, Chief. There's…a boy…"

"Show me."

They went to the edge of the ocean, where they found an extraordinarily small boy with a freckled face, deep green eyes and red hair that was matted with saltwater.

He looked to be about sixteen, but surely he was too scrawny to have hit his growth spurt yet.

Beside him was a fully-grown Night Fury and Stoick nearly told the boy to get away, but he seemed quite comfortable next to the dragon, holding the dragon's scaly black head in his arms.

The small boy gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "Do you realize what this means? We're _free, _Toothless, _free!" _The boy gave a laugh that was nearly a sob, and he and the dragon held onto each other like they were the only two in the world that mattered.

Then the boy swooned.

* * *

They carried him into Stoick's hut, for lack of any better place to house him.

Stoick could pick him up one-handed, but Astrid insisted on helping him, and Stoick let her.

As for the Night Fury, Stoick planned to let that blasted thing lurk at the edge of the ocean until it flew off or Stoick was ready to deal with it; but instead the dragon followed Stoick and Astrid, growling at them with deadly anger.

The look in his eyes was clear: _hurt the human and you die._

The death promised in the dragon's eyes would be quick, cold and merciless, no pity or hesitation involved.

And Stoick had never seen a stronger attachment as that Night Fury's with the boy's.

The dragon refused to leave the boy's side, even after the strange redheaded boy awoke, and, wild green eyes wide, he looked around the room.

When he saw Stoick and Astrid, he automatically laid a hand on the dragon's head.

For the first time, Stoick noticed the shadow of a bruise on the boy's face, and that saltwater was not the only thing in his hair; there was also a fair amount of dried blood mixed in, too.

The boy stood up from the bed and moved slowly towards the door.

"Thank you for your hospitality." He spoke loudly and slowly, but there was also an almost nasal sound to it. "We'll just be going now. We don't want to intrude."

"Wait!" Astrid and Stoick both stood up from the table and called to him, but it was Astrid who continued. "You're hurt, aren't you?"

"I'll be okay," the boy replied. "I don't have to go very far past here."

Then he looked around and said, "Where am I, anyway?"

"Sit down on the bed," Stoick replied, "and I'll tell you everything you need to know."

Once the boy grasped where he was, he looked ready to cry. "The Isle of Berk!"

He stood up, ran to the dragon and embraced the proud creature.

The dragon's pink tongue snaked out of his mouth and licked the boy's freckled cheek.

"Now tell us about yourself," Stoick tried, unsure where to go next. "Why are you so excited about where you are? What's your name? Where do you come from?"

The boy stiffened and turned. Stoick nearly gasped at the sudden change.

The boy's face was hard, his warm green eyes suddenly cold. "And why," he began, with such a coolness in his voice it made Stoick almost wish he had not asked, "do you want to know?"

"We're just curious!" Astrid assured him. "No one has ever washed up on our shores, faint from exhaustion and clearly injured, with a Night Fury in tow!"

The boy sat down and said, "I'm sixteen years old. My name is Hiccup. And don't ask me about the rest, because, believe me, you don't want to know."


	2. Stronger Than He Looks

**A/N: Soooo here you guys go. I'll go work on Chapter 3, then, shall I? Read, review, and until next time!**

* * *

Stoick offered the boy a permanent home on Berk, which he hastily declined.

"I need to travel, with Toothless," he said, patting the dragon's scales. "I can't stay here forever."

Stoick finally questioned the Night Fury's presence, and Hiccup replied with, "Why didn't you kill him while I slept?"

Stoick answered honestly. "I thought you would wake and help us take care of the problem. I was sure you'd know what to do with him."

Hiccup shook his head quickly. "Don't hurt Toothless."

"Is that what you call him?"

"Yes."

"Why is he…it here? You do know what Vikings and dragons do to each other, right?"

An angry flush spread up the boy's face. "Don't you DARE hurt him!"

Ignoring the lack of respect, the chief said, "Hiccup, the dragons have attacked us for years! We can't stand by and let you—

"Let me?" Hiccup demanded, crossing his skinny arms. Despite his weak appearance, everything about him screamed strong. "Let me? I'm leaving soon, and then I'll be out of your hair. At least let Toothless stay until then."

"Wait!" Stoick said. "Hiccup, you've been hurt. You need to give yourself some time to heal."

"I'll be ok."

"Give it at least a month here. That's about the time it will take you to get completely healed. Then you can go."

"I'm not staying if Toothless is threatened."

Stoick winced as if the next words caused him physical pain. "We won't hurt him."

* * *

All week, Hiccup showed how different he was from the other Vikings. He had a sharp tongue, a quick wit and a sarcastic sense of humor that Astrid immediately liked, yet he was defensive and angry. He was mocked for his size by many, but when teased, all he said was, "I'm stronger than I look."

He was quiet and thoughtful, and Astrid noticed numerous scars on his face.

Several looked like they'd been made from long, sharp daggers and he had burn scars on his hands and wrists.

When questioned about them, however, he became defensive and snappish and refused to talk, so Astrid learned not to ask about them.

But Hiccup was still a curiosity in the eyes of many, and he often ignored many Vikings' attempts to befriend him.

The times when his distrust was tested the most was at dinner in the Great Hall.

Astrid and the others normally let Hiccup eat in peace, but not Berk's chatty blacksmith, Gobber the Belch.

He sought Hiccup out about three days after he'd come and struck up a conversation with him.

Hiccup did, for the first few days, attempt to drive him off, making it clear he wanted no part in Berk's activities while he was there, but eventually, Gobber pulled him into a conversation and the result was a little surprising.

Gobber mentioned something about the amount of weapons he had still to repair and make and Hiccup's green eyes lit up.

"Would you like me to help you?" he offered.

Gobber eyed him. "Are you sure you could lift those weapons?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "I'm stronger than I look."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys like! Hiccup is wildly OOC, I know. But I don't care! Because- *cough, cough* ok, I'm gonna have to quit before I totally spoil the ending, but just know that Hiccup has good reason for being so OOC!**

**Hint: Think 'Like a Strike of Lightning' (one of my old stories) but less angsty.**


	3. None of Her Business

**A/N: Hey, guys! Here's chapter 3! I hope you all like, and Chapter 4 is ready to roll, but I'm waiting til more people see this one first! So, um...if it's not asking too much, can you guys please give me 2 new reviews, before chapter 4? I've seen people request a dozen before, ON ONE CHAPTER and that seems a little greedy to me. So please, just 2 for little ? Well, even if I don't get two reviews, thank you for the dozen I have now! :-) **

* * *

So that's how Hiccup joined the forge.

He enjoyed Gobber's company and loved the sights, sounds, and smells of the place.

He also liked the fact that the work helped him avoid the nosy people, which he saw as an added bonus.

Astrid came in to get her axe sharpened one day and saw Hiccup there.

"Hey, can you sharpen this?" she asked him, then hastily added, "If you can, you know, pick it up."

Hiccup stared at her through a curtain of red hair for a second, then leaned down and picked up the axe easily.

He brought it over to the grindstone and began sharpening it.

"So, Hiccup, where are you from?" Astrid asked, watching him sharpen her beloved weapon.

Hiccup didn't reply for a second. Then he looked up and gave her a grimace. "Outcast Island."

Astrid's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh." It was more of a whisper than a sound.

Then she swallowed and said, "Is that…where you got the Night Fury? And the anger issues? And the scar-

Hiccup dropped the axe and it fell to the floor with a clatter.

He stared at her, and for one long second Astrid thought he was going to yell.

But instead, he said, "That's none of your business."

Then he picked up her axe, handed it to her, and stalked into the back of the forge.

* * *

And so the rest of the week passed uneventfully.

Snotlout showed up at the forge to get a good look at Hiccup, but the most interesting thing was perhaps when Gobber told Hiccup about dragon training classes.

"You think you might want to join dragon training, Hiccup?" Gobber asked, then immediately wished he could take it back. He had nearly forgotten the part about his arrival that had caused a stir among many Vikings: the fact that a Night Fury had come with him.

Hiccup looked up. "Dragon training?"

Gobber tried to evade the question, with little success. "Oh, you know what, it doesn't matter, never mind, you don't like hanging out with people on Berk, I-I forgot—

"What is dragon training, Gobber?" Hiccup's arms were folded.

Gobber admitted, "Sorry, laddie. I know you won't like it…but it's where the teenagers on Berk are trained to fight dragons and…and kill them…"

"What?" Hiccup looked outraged. "Is that what these weapons are for? To fight dragons? To kill them? I didn't think the people of Berk did that! Last I heard, Berk was a peaceful place!"

Gobber blanched. "Hiccup—

"No. Ok, no. That…this…that is SICK!" Hiccup threw down the sword he had been making and stalked out of the forge.


	4. That's All You Know

Astrid caught up to him as he climbed onto his Night Fury's back.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Just for a flight around the island," Hiccup replied, and boy and dragon shot off into the sky.

Astrid stared after them, feeling something wasn't quite right with the boy who still didn't consider her a friend.

* * *

Hiccup flew around the island, willing the wind in his face to take all his other thoughts away, specifically his wild anger.

He forced himself to stop clutching Toothless' saddle so tightly.

Then he looked down and saw the Kill Ring. He hesitated, knowing that's where the dragon training classes took place. It'd be completely crazy to do what he was thinking, right?

So he shouldn't right?

Right.

* * *

A sudden shadow fell over the Kill Ring where the other teens practiced with their weapons.

Astrid had come up and was practicing some axe throwing, but when the shadow of the Night Fury fell over the ring she glanced up with the others.

She blinked. "Wow. That thing's _big."_

Hiccup landed in the arena and walked over to one of the dragon doors.

He began unlatching it, completely unaware the teens stood behind him.

"Toothless, bud, will you give us a plasma blast?" he hissed at the Night Fury. "Up there." He pointed to the chained roof of the arena.

Toothless threw a ball of bright blue fire up there and Snotlout walked forward. "What the _hell _are you doing?"

Hiccup jumped. "And who the _hell _are you?" He mimicked Snotlout's posture down to a tee, on purpose, Astrid suspected. He slouched and had both arms folded over his thin chest.

"I'm Snotlout Jorgenson," Snotlout said proudly. "And you are? And you are doing what?"

"I think that's my business," Hiccup's emerald eyes flashed angrily as he said this. He leaned against a burn mark on the stone wall behind him.

"You were trying to free one of our dragons!" Snotlout spluttered.

"Rubbish," Hiccup snapped coolly.

"You have a Night Fury. Obviously, you don't mind dragons."

Hiccup pulled himself away from the wall and took a step toward Snotlout. He was only slightly taller. "I don't free dragons."

"You think you can start a dragon army to take down Berk, maybe? Yeah, I hear where you're from, scrawny. Maybe you're in league with Alvin the Treacherous, hoping to conquer Berk? I know you're from Outcast Island. You're nothing but trouble."

Hiccup gave a twisted little smile. "That's all you know."

* * *

**A/N: Ok, so, for one thing, YES I KNOW HICCUP IS KINDA OOC. At least in this chapter. Thank you, everyone for your reviews! I feel kinda bad asking you guys for a certain number, but thank you anyway! The e-mail inbox that I signed on to FF with exploded LOL. Please review, but you know, I'm not gonna post a chapter just because I have a certain number anymore. **

**Also, a lot of you want Hiccup to "open up" but keep in mind, he hardly knows these people and doesn't trust ANYONE except Toothless, which makes sense when you hear it, but soon the plot won't just be angst-angst-angst soon it will be angst-angst-surprise-angst, LOL. **

**Ok, I think I lose people after like, the second paragraph of an AN so I'm done! Happy Reading and Writing!**


	5. Just Let Me Show You

Hiccup climbed back on Toothless and left the other teens behind, staring after him.

Finally, Snotlout managed to splutter himself into speech. "Well, that little douche bag!"

"You don't really believe in that dragon army stuff you were shouting at him, do you?" Fishlegs asked.

"Of course I do!" Snotlout fumed.

"Then you're an idiot," Astrid told him.

The other teens continued to bicker, and finally Astrid decided to get the heck out of dodge.

There were more important things that needed doing.

* * *

Hiccup finally calmed himself enough to get off Toothless, but when he did, Stoick intercepted him. "Hiccup!" he boomed. "What's this I hear about you shouting at Gobber in the forge, storming out, and then possibly attempting to free one of our captured dragons?"

"What's this I hear about you guys keeping dragons captive in the first place?" Hiccup shot back, a tad disrespectfully.

Stoick said in a harsh voice, "I am the chief of this island, and while you live here I am your chief! You may not speak to me that way!"

Hiccup swallowed. Stoick saw him stiffen slightly and he said, showing the slightest hint of respect for the first time, "I can't agree with what you do here, Stoick the Vast. Will you give me a chance to explain myself, and my side of the argument before you decide what you're going to do with me?"

"To do with you?" Stoick repeated. "I just expect you to speak respectfully, I don't…"

Then he remembered Gobber's words just a few seconds ago: _the kid comes from Outcast Island. I daresay he picked up a few P's and Q's there, and he may be disrespectful, or expect brutal treatment._

Stoick felt a startling flash of pity for the boy before him.

"What would your side of the argument be, anyway?"

Hiccup swallowed. "Just let me show you."

* * *

**A/N: So I just totally wrote this chapter and the next in a burst of inspiration (while also working on my ROTG fanfiction...it's called "Our Duty is to Protect"...hint, hint) and I saw had one new review on the last one and I was like, "I DON'T CARE I'M BORED AND I WANT TO POST THIS!' lol. **

**Hope you like, please R&R, I could use a review right about now because I am honestly bored. I'm gonna try and go back and work on another chapter...thanks for the review on chapter 4!**


	6. He Comes From Outcast Island

My grandfather would be turning in his grave, Stoick thought bitterly, as he allowed Hiccup to let the dragon out of the ring. He kept a tight grip on his sword, just in case, but Hiccup raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, you'll want to put that sword away," Hiccup told him.

Stoick lifted a brow. "And why?"

"Because the dragon won't trust me until it thinks I won't hurt it." Hiccup explained patiently. "And having weapons near a distrustful dragon is NEVER good, so please give me the sword!"

_He comes from Outcast Island._

Stoick finally surrendered his sword to the boy, who promptly chucked it in a corner, handling the large weapon with apparent ease.

Then he slowly unlatched the Nadder's cage, and she jumped out and shot a volley of spikes at him.

"Whoa!" Hiccup said, jumping back. "You have a fierce one!"

He slowly approached the Nadder, making sure to appear trustworthy by sticking to one side, instead of staying in her blind spot.

"Hey, girl," he said, holding out a hand towards her nose, moving slowly towards her tail. "It's gonna be ok. I'm not gonna hurt you. Promise."

Stoick stared as the Nadder quite docilely placed her scaly blue snout in Hiccup's outstretched hand.

Hiccup smiled, and for the first time it was genuine, not a gruesome twisted replica.

His green eyes sparkled happily and Stoick recognized the signs of being in one's element.

Hiccup was used to dealing with dragons this way, and actually enjoyed it! Stoick realized with some incredulity.

Hiccup smiled and said to the Nadder, "Hey, girl. Want to go for a ride?" The Nadder nodded happily, then glanced up at the chain roof.

Hiccup didn't even look at Stoick. "Toothless, will you give us a plasma blast?"

Toothless shot a blast in the place he had previously fired: the weakened metal tore as a result, leaving a hole large enough for maybe a smallish Viking like Hiccup to slip through.

The Nadder, in reply, shot her own fire and turned to Toothless for approval.

The metal roof practically fell down around their feet.

As it was, parts barely stayed up and connected to the rest.

Hiccup grinned and said, "I guess that's why Nadders are rumored to have the hottest fire!"

Then they shot up into the sky.

It was a beautiful sight to behold: her wings were jewel-bright and stretched to their fullest extent, and she did several complicated twirls before remembering the tiny little fishbone still on her back, with no way to hold on. She glanced back at him worriedly, but his eyes were wide open and he was grinning so hard his face hurt.

Hiccup hugged the Nadder around the neck. "You rock!"

The Nadder shot a celebratory blast of fire, and then Hiccup said, "Just leave me here, please."

The Nadder dropped him on the chain ceiling and Hiccup began to climb down from it carefully, and the Nadder, noticing his predicament, helped him down.

He barely needed the help: he was scrawny, but wiry and he had been doing just fine without her.

When he finally made it back, she shot a single spike at him, and he caught it in his hand.

She moaned at him and he smiled at her.

"Thanks!" he called, and off she flew, towards open sea to spread her wings and never have to land.

Hiccup turned to face an open-mouthed Stoick.

To make matters worse, a singed part of the roof fell in and landed squarely on Hiccup's copper head, knocking him down.

* * *

**A/N: So, what did you think? BTW, peoples, Outcast Island is where people who've been exiled from their tribe go! **

**Thanks for your reviews, follows and favorites and please R&R! And the surprise-angst is coming SOON! *evil grin* **


	7. I'm Listening

Hiccup hastily picked himself up. "Are you mad?" He quickly brushed off the smoking piece of roof and ran his fingers through his hair to make sure there were no more bits of metal.

Stoick threw his head back and laughed.

Hiccup, expecting a lecture and possibly a blow, relaxed. "You're not?"

Stoick wiped his eyes. "Hiccup," he chortled, "Hiccup…that roof…was the funniest thing I've seen…in a long time…"

Hiccup smiled nervously, his crooked teeth showing. "Sorry, chief…"

Stoick smiled at him and shook his head. "It's ok. We'll get Gobber to repair it, he's going to hate you… Now about the dragon…"

"Yes?"

"You may be right about them, Hiccup. _Maybe." _

Hiccup brightened. "Really?"

"I can definitely see your side. I expected you to get scorched when you were going towards her."

Hiccup twisted his hands nervously, seemingly lost for words. And he was. The last time he'd tried showing people about dragons…he refused to think those thoughts today. He wasn't going to dwell on the bad stuff. Not anymore. Because, for the first time in a long time, he might just not have to.

* * *

Once Hiccup and Stoick reached his hut, Stoick said, "I know Gobber had you sleeping in the forge, and I know that place isn't ideal…do you want to stay here?"

Hiccup shook his head quickly. "Oh, no, it's ok. I'm fine." Stoick got the sense he didn't want to intrude on the red-haired man's hospitality.

Stoick turned to the cauldron simmering over the fire and pulled up the lid. "Care to eat dinner with me in a few? We can discuss the problem with the dragons more if you like."

"I know the answer to the problem," Hiccup said.

Stoick's head snapped up. "I'm listening."

"Ok," Hiccup said, and gave a nervous little laugh. "It's kind of a funny story, but…there's this queen…"

* * *

**A/N: Ok, so what do you guys think? Stoick is a little OOC with how fast he accepted the dragons, but, for the past, like, week, Toothless has been proving himself trustworthy and civil and domestic and all that jazz. Of course, he hasn't really accepted them, just kind of admitted that dragons aren't completely bad, as he's now seen real proof of it himself.**

**Furthermore, Hiccup was NOT EXILED guys. He was born on Outcast Island. He will reveal this later, in passing, but it's not essential to the plot, nor is it some big mystery. Please. I already have enough of those.**

**Anyway, the surprise-angst SHOULD come in around Chapter 10 or 11, but it might not at all, because it's REALLY REALLY hard to find the right way to bring it in the story.**

**Every time I do it, Stoick is wildly OOC. Yes, that is the tidbit I will give you all tonight, that it concerns Stoick. *throat clearing* Anyway...**

**Whoa, this is possibly my longest AN! Sorry! **

**- .ryder**


	8. You Have No Idea

Once Hiccup had explained thoroughly enough, Stoick said, "So what do we do? I believe you, Hiccup. No one could make that kind of thing up. I'm just wondering…what do you suggest we do?"

Hiccup looked aghast. "You're asking my opinion?"

Stoick gave him a kindly smile. "You seem up to the job."

Hiccup hesitated, still in shock. "Well, then, uh…um, I don't know?" he opted for a smile and it came out looking like a terrified grimace. He dropped it, ran a hand through his feathery red hair and said, "Gods, Chief, I don't know, I just…I don't know."

Stoick nodded. Then he got up and began quietly ladling the stew in the cauldron into two bowls.

While they ate, they talked.

"Do you still plan to leave Berk when the month is up?" Stoick asked.

"Yes," Hiccup replied without hesitation.

Stoick noticed he hadn't touched his stew. "Are you ok, Hiccup? You're not eating."

Hiccup quickly picked up his spoon and took a bite. His eyes watered slightly and he swallowed, then began coughing.

"It's still a little hot," Stoick warned him.

Hiccup sat back up. "I suppose you were thinking 'better late than never' then?"

Stoick spooned a bite into his own mouth. "Well, it's not hot to _me."_

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but Stoick noticed the shadow of a smile as Hiccup took another bite up in his spoon and made a big show of blowing on it first.

When they'd finished eating, Hiccup jumped up. "Do you want me to help you wash our bowls or the cauldron or—

"No, that's ok," Stoick said quickly. "I want to talk to you."

Hiccup sat back down, thinking of the last time he'd heard those words.

"_I want to talk to you," Alvin smiled. _

_Hiccup knew that smile all too well. It promised pain in every line, and not just the physical kind._

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup quickly shook it off. "Yes?"

"You looked like you were a million miles away."

_You have no idea._

* * *

**A/N: AAAND now I've given everyone a little taste of why Hiccup is so distrusting. I notice I'm putting a lot of humor in these chapters to kind of lighten the mood, but eh...I think angst and hurt/comfort are safer genres for this story than humor.**


	9. I Didn't Protect You

Hiccup left Stoick's house that day and found Gobber locking up the forge.

"Oh," Gobber said, realizing his mistake, and he hastily unlocked the back door. "Right, Hiccup, you're sleeping in the forge again tonight, right?"

"If that's ok."

Despite most on Berk (some rather grudgingly) offering him a place in their homes, he had declined.

He had seen the looks in their eyes, and knew almost nobody on Berk trusted him.

The Night Fury that almost never left his side, but who had been napping in the forge while he was at Stoick's, awoke and looked around at Hiccup's footsteps.

Hiccup smiled at him. "Hey, bud." He knelt down next to the dragon. "Did ya miss me?"

Toothless happily licked Hiccup's cheek, and Hiccup smiled. "I missed you, too."

A great change came over Hiccup as he sat there; all the fight left him, and he slumped down.

The shadow left his face, the faintest of sparkles came now into his green eyes, and he gave the same smile Stoick had seen when he'd calmed the Nadder: not defensive, bitter or gruesome, but truly happy to be right where he was.

He curled up on the floor, but Toothless put his scaly nose into Hiccup's red hair.

Hiccup sat up, rubbing the side of his head and gave Toothless a smile as the dragon curled up where Hiccup's head had been.

Knowing what he wanted, the boy lay back down, using the dragon's back for a pillow.

And with that, both boy and dragon fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, when Gobber unlocked the forge door, he walked loudly into the room calling, "Hiccup! Hiccup!"

"Hiccup?"

"Hicc—AHHH!" The macho Viking ran for his life.

The Night Fury had woken with a start, and, thinking someone had sneaked in to harm his human, the wildly overprotective dragon had flown into a rage and flung himself at Gobber, growling and snarling.

The Viking ran and the dragon chased until Hiccup, who had been startled awake by the Night Fury leaping out from under his head, came out sleepy-eyed and tousle-haired and persuaded Toothless to stop.

Toothless had reluctantly complied; the chase had been warming his cold, reptile blood.

He stood still in front of Hiccup, waiting for Gobber to show he was trustworthy.

Gobber stood well back from the Night Fury. "Ah, well, Hiccup…your friend's a little bloodthirsty then, eh?" He chuckled nervously.

Hiccup reached up and began patting Toothless' neck. "Calm down, Toothless. He's a friend."

Toothless sat down on the wooden floor of the forge, glaring at Gobber.

"Relax, bud!" Hiccup said. "He was only coming in to wake me up!"

Toothless gave Hiccup a look. The expression on his dark face was clear: _I didn't protect you last time. I have to now. I owe it to you._

Hiccup bit his lip. Both he and Toothless harbored a lot of guilt in their friendship. Boy and dragon both felt they ought to have protected each other better, and now they were more than making up for it.

Hiccup looked over and noticed Gobber was still standing well back from Toothless.

"Typical," Hiccup clucked. "Four days shut up in this forge with him and you STILL don't trust him?"

Gobber glared at him. "Cut me some slack! It's only been four days! How you sleep with him right next to you, I'll never know."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Gobber called after him. "Do you want to help me fix up some old weapons again?" Then he blanched, remembering the last time Hiccup had been helping him.

Hiccup just stared at him, then turned and walked out of the forge.

* * *

**A/N: LOL. I was chuckling as I wrote the scene where Toothless chased Gobber, but then I was kind of like, 'I am MEAN to Toothless and Hiccup :(' when I wrote the whole 'I didn't protect you' thing. Of course, Toothless COULDN'T protect Hiccup, not really and Hiccup couldn't really protect him.**

**Anyway, I'm rambling and giving you guys ginormous spoilers, so I better stop. Happy reading, and Chapter 10 will be up shortly!**


	10. Why Don't You Trust?

Astrid watched Hiccup walking out of the forge.

"Hey!" she called, catching up to him. "What's wrong?"

She took a small step back upon noticing the Night Fury that rarely ever left his side; not only was that thing freaking scary in and of itself, it was also SUPER-protective of Hiccup.

Hiccup scuffed one boot against the ground. "Nothing's wrong. It's not like you'd care, anyway. I'm just a dirty Outcast, right?" His voice dripped bitterness.

Astrid said, "Hiccup, when will you trust us? Time after time, I've TRIED to be your friend—

"My friend? My _friend?" _Hiccup sounded outraged now. "No, Astrid, you have NEVER been my friend! You don't know the first damn thing about me!"

"Because you won't tell me anything!"

"So it's my fault?"

"Why don't you TRUST anyone, Hiccup?" Astrid just looked weary now.

Hiccup crossed his arms. "I've been on Outcast Island my whole life, ok? My whole life! I have never been able to trust anyone I've ever met on that entire damned island except one person, one single freaking person and that was Toothless! He listened without judging, loved without putting a condition on that love! I have never been able to trust another person again, and if you knew the hell I've gone through, you'd know why!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"

Hiccup jumped and whirled around, fingers fumbling for one of his knives before remembering Alvin had taken them, so instead he clenched his small hands into fists.

He came face-to-face with Stoick the Vast, staring down at him.

"What's going on here?" Stoick's eyes traveled from Astrid, mutely standing there, to Hiccup, whose hands were clenched into fists, ready to attack.

Hiccup saw who it was, and his stormy brow cleared, and his hands unclenched. "Right. Sorry."

Stoick crossed his arms. "Never you mind that, what is going on here? Hiccup, I heard you shouting from all the way down there!" Stoick pointed to the lowest point of the island.

Hiccup sincerely doubted that, but deemed it best to hold his tongue at a time like this.

"Sorry," he muttered, though he sounded insincere.

Stoick glared at him. "What happened?"

Astrid took it upon herself to explain. "Nothing. We just had an…argument."

She half-glanced at Hiccup as she said this.

Hiccup stared coldly back.

Stoick, sensing the tension in the air, said slowly, with heavy sarcasm, "Really?"

Hiccup nodded helpfully. "Sorry. It won't happen again."

Stoick rolled his eyes and turned to walk away.

As he did, Hiccup turned his back on Astrid and walked away as well.


	11. Beautiful Little Lies

**A/N: THE SURPRISE-ANGST IS HERE!**

**P.S: You guys have been amazing! Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites!**

* * *

The next day, Hiccup awoke in the forge again, but this time he was ready for Gobber's voice to startle him awake.

Jumping up, he laid a hand on Toothless' nose and said, "PLEASE don't attack him again, Toothless, that was very bad of you!"

Toothless made a sad little noise in the back of his throat, and Hiccup somehow found himself swiftly rushing to the dragon's defense. "No, no, no, it's ok." He soothed. "I know you were just trying to protect me."

Toothless happily licked his rider's cheek and Hiccup let loose an unexpected little chuckle. It was a carefree and awfully affectionate sound, something no one would have expected to hear from Hiccup.

When Gobber entered the room, he drew back slightly upon seeing the Night Fury. "Should I run?"

Hiccup smiled and shook his head, causing his auburn bangs to fall into his eyes. "No."

He had just about decided that, although he wouldn't put it completely past Stoick, no one was going to throw him into a dungeon or attempt to take him back to Outcast Island.

His blood ran cold at the very thought.

Gobber raised a thick yellow eyebrow at him. "What's wrong?" He'd noticed Hiccup's lips tighten slightly, and was wondering what was wrong with the boy.

Hiccup shook his head quickly. "Nothing. I'm fine."

_Lies._

* * *

Hiccup sat at the kitchen table of the chief's hut that night, tapping his long fingers on the table as he spoke quietly.

"I have an idea about this dragon queen, and it might work," he told the barn-sized man. "Or it might all go to hell in a handbasket. Who knows?"

Stoick nodded, eyes fixed on a point somewhere above Hiccup's head.

Hiccup continued nervously. "Er…and so I was just thinking, you know, that it'll take getting at least a dozen dragons on our side, and of course, we'd need Toothless, but we could do it."

Stoick nodded again. "I'm listening. What is the plan?"

"I'm going out during the next raid, and I'm going to try to talk to some of the dragons. Please don't fight them."

Stoick didn't respond for a second. "Hiccup, I understand about this queen, but we need to defend ourselves—

"They're only trying to get food!" Hiccup said desperately. "It's not like they're going to murder us all if we don't attack them!"

He had raised his voice against the chief, and was now speaking much louder than normal.

Realizing this, he put a hand over his mouth.

Stoick stood and began pacing the kitchen. Finally, when he was at a point where his back was to Hiccup, he said in a very quiet voice, "You remind me of my son."

"Your…son? But you don't have…"

"I did."

"Oh." Hiccup drew a sharp breath, hoping Stoick wouldn't say what he did.

"He died…" Stoick looked away. "The sickness killed both him and his mother.

He was never the strongest of Vikings…he looked so much like you…" He turned and his eyes fell on Hiccup's messy, tousled red hair and his earnest green eyes, and he thought with a pang of his lost son.

Hiccup shyly shoved a piece of hair out of his eyes and mumbled, "I had no idea…I'm so sorry, Chief." Pity for the forlorn man in front of Hiccup engulfed him.

Stoick tried brushing off these thoughts. "It was all years ago, of course," he said stiffly.

Hiccup winced. "Yeah, but still…it must be hard…"

Stoick, having no wish to be pitied by this boy, said, "Let us get back to the conversation at hand."


	12. I'm Not Defenseless

Hiccup left Stoick's house that night with his head buzzing.

Shoving the conversation with Stoick out of his mind, he entered the forge using the unlocked back door and fell into a deep sleep, Toothless at his side, his wings curled protectively over the boy he had failed to defend once.

* * *

When he woke up, it was to hear Gobber stumping around the forge.

Looking around, he saw the blacksmith had also put a thick woolen blanket over the boy. He swallowed and saw Toothless wasn't there. Worrying about what the dragon could possibly have done _this_ time, Hiccup kicked the blanket off and came into the main room of the forge, rubbing sleep from his eyes and trying to flatten his hair.

Gobber greeted him quite cheerily and went back to his work, whistling.

Hiccup, suspicious, checked the forge for Toothless, only to find that the dragon was content, munching on some Icelandic cod.

Hiccup stared. "Uh, Gobber? Did you know Toothless is here? In the forge?"

"Course I did, then, Hiccup, you can't miss a huge dragon with a forty-foot wingspan!"

Dumbfounded, Hiccup called, "Where did he find the food?"

"I gave it to him."

"I thought you hated Toothless!"

"Nah, he's just really protective of you. I don't mind him so much."

Hiccup sidled back up next to Gobber and picked up a bent sword. He began hammering away on it, fixing it back to its original shape.

"Did it ever occur to you to learn how to defend yourself?"

Hiccup glanced up at Gobber. "Huh?"

"Well…you know…" Gobber said slowly. "I mean, you have the Night Fury, of course, but don't you think it might be better for you to learn how to defend yourself without him?"

Hiccup gave Gobber a sarcastic smile. "I can throw knives."

Gobber raised a skeptical brow.

Hiccup picked up a rusty knife from the table and threw it with his left hand.

In a perfect arc, it grazed Gobber's mustache and sank deeply into a wooden wall of the forge.

Hiccup went over and tugged it out, causing the wall to creak ominously.

"Toothless is protection," he told the gaping blacksmith, "but I have my own."

* * *

**A/N: Oh my god, I hit over fifty reviews! Thank you all!**


	13. You Don't Want To Know

After that, no more was said between the two until the sun was high in the sky and the forge became baking hot.

Hiccup shed his fur vest and rolled up his sleeves.

"Hiccup, what is _that?"_

Gobber was pointing to one particularly ugly scar on Hiccup's wrist.

Hiccup stared at it for a long time, and finally he spoke in a hard voice. "Something to remember my time on Outcast Island by."

* * *

Finally, around lunchtime, Gobber said, "Well, Hiccup, we'd better eat soon. You hungry?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I'm ok. You go eat. I'll hold down the fort here."

Gobber felt strange about leaving someone else to look after his forge, so he hesitated. "Hiccup…"

"Yes?" Hiccup asked, sharpening a battle-axe.

Gobber waited until Hiccup was finished, mostly because he couldn't think of anything to say. He pitied the boy in front of him. But the fact remained that he came from Outcast Island, where the banished Vikings went. What had Hiccup gotten banished for?

"Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you live before you got banished?"

"Huh?"

"You know…" Gobber tried not to look awkward. "Outcast Island is where banished Vikings go. Where did you live before you were banished to Outcast Island?"

"I wasn't banished."

"Then—

"I was born on Outcast Island."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Hiccup the Treacherous. Alvin wasn't that proud."

Gobber gave an audible gasp. "Alvin? But…then the scars? Hiccup, what happened?"

Hiccup looked up at Gobber with wary eyes. "You don't want to know, Gobber."

"Hiccup…"

"You don't want to know."

* * *

**A/N: This story is drawing to a close. Just about five, maybe six more chapters and then Hiccup will spill his guts about what happened on Outcast Island :D**

**Just so you know, I really want to keep this story going but Hiccup is just like, "I shall have ANGST with Gobber. Then ANGST with Astrid. Then ANGST with Stoick!" And, when you remove the angst, you get about ten percent of the original story left.**


	14. Take Me On A Dragon Ride

**A/N: Astrid might be a little OOC in this chapter. But I like her and it seems that, under the circumstances, she WOULD be acting this way.**

Later that day, Astrid came to the forge to see Gobber. She and the blacksmith were friends, and she liked talking to him.

"While you're here, would you like to get your axe sharpened?" Gobber offered.

"No thanks," Astrid smiled, "I got it sharpened just the other day. Do you think you could tighten it up, though?"

Gobber nodded. "HICCUP!"

Hiccup wandered in, Toothless at his side. "Yeah?"

"Were you playing with Toothless on the job AGAIN?"

Hiccup grinned. "Sorry." It was the first real smile Astrid had seen from him.

He said, "Alright, hand me the weapon. Or the cod Toothless barfed up. Or the—

"We DON'T need to mention that last one, thank you," Gobber said icily. "Astrid needs her axe tightened."

Hiccup held out his hand for the axe, and Astrid handed it to him.

He went over to the back of the forge and began studiously tightening up Astrid's axe.

When he handed it back to her, Gobber said, "Oh, go on, Hiccup, go outside! You need a break! And besides, youngsters should be out in the sunshine, not shut up in some dusty old building all day!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but smiled and stepped out the back door with Toothless.

Astrid followed and waited as Hiccup scratched the dragon under the chin and behind the ears.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking up and meeting her eyes.

She nodded. "I know you are."

He hesitated. "If Gobber's giving me a break, I should get going." He hopped on Toothless. Then he remembered her and looked back at her. "Want a ride?"

Her eyes widened and she backed off. "Ohhh, no! I am NOT getting on that thing!"

"Toothless is not a thing!" Hiccup said, indignant. "And, anyway, you don't have to come, it was just an offer. It'd be fun, though, you know."

He jumped down from Toothless' saddle. "You'd love it. You strike me as the kind of person who enjoys crazy things."

Astrid glared at him.

Hiccup backtracked. He was a tough cookie, but not that tough.

"I just meant…well…I just meant…you know," he finished awkwardly, and she cocked an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be an apology? Or a rephrase?"

"Eh…sort of both," Hiccup said. "Why?"

Astrid shrugged. She looked at Toothless for a second, then Hiccup said, "I can understand if you don't want to get on him." He turned to get back on him. "But you can if you want to."

Astrid hesitated for a second, then reached out to carefully touch Toothless' glistening black scales.

Toothless playfully nipped her fingers and she smiled, pulling her fingers away from his teeth and instead rubbing him in between the ears.

Hiccup watched this with the faintest of smiles.

"It's crazy," Astrid admitted, still stroking Toothless. "You know, all my life I feared dragons. I believed so staunchly that they were all evil, wicked creatures, and to be honest, a big part of me still does."

Toothless gave her a harder nip this time.

Hiccup elbowed him, but listened to Astrid.

"But now? I've seen proof that the worst, wickedest dragon of all can act so much like a little puppy dog that it makes me laugh just to think of it."

Toothless looked offended, but did not attempt to bite her this time, which Hiccup took to be a step in the right direction.

"And you know, that's really changed the way I view them. It's so crazy to think that a scrawny little boy and a Night Fury could have changed my opinion, sort of. You know?"

Hiccup said, "I am _not _a little boy."

And looking at him, Astrid realized he wasn't one. There was something about him, some deep hole inside into which he threw all of his feelings. And no one cared enough to try and help him sort them out or dig them back up.

He needed that person, she realized.

She stared at Toothless for a second, took a deep breath, and, as she let it out, she also released the last of her fear. "Ok. Take me on a dragon ride, Hiccup."


	15. He Comes from Outcast Island! (Again)

Hiccup held out his hand to help her on, but she ignored it and climbed on herself.

"Ok," she said quietly, taking care to lean far enough away so it didn't look like she wanted to be near him, but also making sure to lean close enough to throttle him if need be.

Toothless took off, and Astrid felt Hiccup shifting his feet.

Looking down, she saw his boots had been placed in two pedals on either side of the dragon that somehow controlled the flight.

Looking back, she saw a prosthetic tail fin on the dragon.

What exactly had happened to this Night Fury, and this boy?

At first, Astrid was scared at the suddenness of take-off, but eventually she got her breath back. And when she did, she found the courage to ask him something she'd always wanted to know. "Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

Her question was suddenly interrupted by Toothless nearly crashing, but pulling neatly out of the dive at the last second.

She was breathing hard and said, "What the HELL does your dragon think he's doing?"

"Sorry," Hiccup chuckled. "He's a real show-off in the air."

"Toothless," he said, speaking to the dragon, and Astrid felt the dragon's muscles tighten as he focused both on Hiccup's words and his flight.

"Don't do anything fancy now, ok? Astrid's never flown on a dragon before and it's pretty scary the first time. Don't encourage this."

Astrid almost felt the dragon shaking as he laughed inwardly.

Hiccup gave Toothless a friendly yet just harsh enough to lightly sting tug on one of his ears. "Useless reptile."

* * *

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Astrid said as they flew higher. "Where is he even taking us?"

"No idea," Hiccup called back. "But he always takes me back to the last place we landed, unless I ask him differently."

"Oh, ok." Astrid shrugged and leaned against Hiccup's back, the rough cloth feeling nice against her cheek. "Hiccup?" She suddenly remembered what she had been about to ask him.

"Yeah?" He steered Toothless past a sea stack.

"What happened to you on Outcast Island?"

She almost felt him begin to get defensive, but up here in the clouds, he couldn't just walk away.

"I…." he hesitated. Astrid looked up in surprise. _He was considering telling her the truth._

Toothless began flying back to Berk.

He swallowed. "It's nothing."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "You realize you're not alone anymore?"

Toothless turned and began flying back to Berk.

"You don't even know me."

"Can I get to know you? Will you let me?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yes."

"I won't ask about Outcast Island. I'll stick to small questions. What's your favorite color?"

"Green. What about yours?"

"Blue. What's your weapon of choice?"

"Knives. Yours?"

"Axe."

They swapped facts about themselves and Hiccup even got into the spirit of things and told a story about how one time he'd cut off Alvin's beard while the man slept.

"Yeah, he was a hopping mad," Hiccup said with a smile. "I didn't pull pranks often but when I did, I went all out with them."

Astrid was howling with laughter, but when they landed, a bad-tempered voice reached them.

"DO YOU REALIZE HOW FOOLISH YOU'RE BEING, STOICK?"

"Who would talk to the chief that way?" Hiccup asked, astonished.

Astrid just looked at him.

"Okay, short of me," he added.

The man came hobbling into view, leaning heavily on a staff and berating Stoick.  
"That Night Fury could kill us while we sleep!"

"How dare he say that about Toothless!" said a scandalized Hiccup.

Astrid climbed off Toothless, completely fearless of the dragon. "Oh. This makes sense. That man is Mildew."

Hiccup wrinkled his nose. "Well, it's true he's not pretty to look at, but are you guys really so mean as to—

"Hiccup, it's not about his looks! That's his actual name!"

"Oh."

"He's the whiner of Berk. Sort of. Mostly he keeps to himself. Lives on the edge of the village and rarely comes into town, except to tell the chief how to do his job. He's really annoying, but easily ignored."

Hiccup grinned at her words, but the smile dropped off his face at Mildew's next words. "How dare you let a foreigner on Berk! A foreign boy with a Night Fury! HE COMES FROM OUTCAST ISLAND!"


	16. Riffraff

Hiccup watched as Stoick scowled at the man in front of him. "Mildew," Stoick said harshly, "that is enough. I decide who lives and stays on Berk, you got that? It's none of your business about this boy's past."

Mildew leered at Hiccup, who stared back, repulsed.

"He looks no good to me."

"Maybe you should get your eyesight checked," Astrid snapped.

Hiccup was rather surprised that Astrid would defend him and he gave her a smile, which was quickly wiped off by Mildew's words.

"All riffraff is on Outcast Island."

"Yep!"

Quite a crowd had formed, and now every member of it looked at Hiccup.

"What?" Mildew demanded.

"Yep!" Hiccup said again. "Riffraff, right? Well, I'm the dirtiest riffraff there is! Son of Alvin the Treacherous! You can't get any worse than me! I steal and I kill!"

Mildew pointed. "See? See? THE BOY HIMSELF ADMITS IT!"

"And, please, Mildew," Hiccup said, spreading his hands wide, "if my presence upsets you, don't trouble your good chief with the matter. How about you take it up to me, to my face instead of skulking around behind my back?"

To this, Mildew had no response.

"The boy stays," Stoick announced.

The Vikings dispersed, chattering excitedly of the events that had just happened.

Stoick led Hiccup into his house for a "cup of tea to calm yourself".

Stoick handed Hiccup a mug of beer, and Hiccup set it down on the table without drinking it. "Maybe you should get Mildew checked by the village healer."

"Why?"

"He seemed to have an inability to smile."

* * *

**A/N: Well, the next chapter is comingggggg soon. Maybe later this morning or tonight, but sometime today, it WILL come!**

**Furthermore, you guys have been amazing! 71 reviews! Wow! I never thought I'd get that many! Most of the stories of mine that I actually like or enjoyed writing aren't very popular. (Ok, besides Our Duty is to Protect and I've Been Broken) but I'm actually enjoying this one! I think I could do better with this story, but for now I'm enjoying it! Thank you guys, everyone, even the people who don't follow or favorite, just read. It means a lot to me that you guys would take time out of your day to read from a writer who's got a lot to learn.**


	17. Stillborn

"Hiccup," Stoick asked when the boy stood from the table after their conversation, "would you like to sleep here tonight? I've got an extra room upstairs."

"No thank you," Hiccup replied. "Gobber lets me sleep in the forge."

Stoick marveled at how three short weeks had changed the boy so much. He hadn't opened up, of course, about anything, but he smiled and even laughed sometimes, which seemed strange coming out of the mouth of this sullen young man.

Hiccup was more respectful of Stoick and did not constantly have a very slight scowl on his freckled face.

"Are you sure?" Stoick asked, remembering the conversation at hand. "It can't be terribly comfortable in the forge."

Hiccup hesitated. It was true that sleeping in the forge was not ideal, but he reminded himself, it beats sleeping in a cell and not knowing what's gonna happen to you tomorrow.

"No, thank you." Hiccup made to stand.

"Wait," Stoick said, also standing. "Hiccup, think about it. It's cold out tonight. It'll be freezing in the forge and Gobber doesn't leave blankets or anything there."

"I'll be alright," Hiccup replied. "The forge isn't far and I've been cold before."

Stoick nodded, wishing he knew why he felt protective of this boy.

Hiccup had admitted himself that he was son of Alvin the Treacherous, and Alvin was Stoick's oldest enemy.

Suddenly, the answer came to him as Hiccup walked out of the house and to the forge.

He turned to look at the shield on the wall. It was crazy, he thought as he regarded the unsmiling man, woman and cheerful boy in the painting, but Hiccup reminded Stoick, not of the boy in the picture; Hiccup was far too broken for that.

He reminded Stoick instead of the one boy who should've been there beside them. Hiccup reminded Stoick of his son's stillborn twin.

It hurt Stoick to think of that tiny little red-haired boy, eyes forever closed, but Stoick knew them to be green after his twin, who had survived.

The boy's eyes would never open again, the midwife had said it herself.

"_He's a stillborn, my dear."_

_Stoick and Val were horrified. _

_And the midwife had said solemnly, "I'll send him off the island."_

_Stoick and Val couldn't bear to watch; they saw it from the distance of the beginning of the docks as they sent their little baby boy off the island. _

_He floated for a few seconds, but Stoick never saw him sink._

* * *

**A/N: Hello, there! Thanks for reading! You guys have been awesome! I wrote this chapter in a total burst of inspiration, because everyone was thinking, 'what if Stoick's dead son was Hiccup?' but I thought of a slightly different idea, and it will keep the mystery alive, don't you think? **_  
_

**I'm obviously going to try not to tell you whether or not the twin is Hiccup, though. **

**Furthermore, I'm not even sure if that other twin's birth was POSSIBLE. Is it possible for one twin to be alive and the other to be a stillborn? Well, I don't know. Bottom line, it happened here, LOL.**

**Also, in a future chapter, Stoick will probably mention his dead son's name (the twin that got killed by sickness) and it will be "Hakon". I Googled some Viking names and I'm pleased with that one, so that's what it's going to be.  
**


	18. Never

Hiccup fell asleep in the forge, arms wrapped around himself, but he was right: having been cold before, having, in fact, been starved and tortured on a daily basis had left him with a much stronger tolerance for cold, hunger and pain.

His many, many scars were proof of that.

* * *

When Hiccup awoke, he heard Stoick chatting to Gobber just outside. Gobber had hung a little red curtain over the doorway of the backroom to mark where Hiccup slept.

Toothless was gone again, but now Hiccup didn't worry for him: Gobber would care for the Night Fury.

He caught disconnected words, but finally sat up and listened when he realized they must have been talking about him.

"Stoick, there's no way! Hiccup comes from Outcast Island! He told me himself Alvin the Treacherous is his father!"

"It'd be an awful shame for a boy to grow up thinking that, when he really was the son of an entirely different man."

"He's not Hakon!"

"Do you remember Hakon's brother? Hakon's twin?"

"A stillborn," Gobber said dismissively. "There's no way, Stoick, he is DEAD. Both of your sons are dead."

"Gobber, he's my son! I know it! I FEEL it!"

"Stoick, do you want proof he's not? Ok, let's think about this. One, Hiccup is scrawny as a half-starved fox. Two, there's no family resemblance. Three, he was born on Outcast Island. Four, Alvin is his father, and why would Alvin lie about that?"

Stoick couldn't see any reasonable answer to that and for a long time all Hiccup heard was silence.

Feeling slightly rude for eavesdropping, he decided now was the time to make his appearance, before they started talking again.

He yawned and drew back the red curtain, his auburn hair tousled from sleep. He had taken off his vest before sleeping, so he grabbed it from the hook by the door Gobber let it stay on, and shouldered it.

"Hey, Gobber," he said with a nod, and turned to Stoick. "What brings you here? Need a weapon fixed?" He cocked an eyebrow and Stoick shook his head.

"Oh, no, I just came to talk to Gobber," Stoick said with half a glance at the man. "We're old friends."

"All the cool people know each other," Gobber said and Hiccup smiled.

He brushed his bangs out of his tired green eyes and said, "Do you want me to go until you guys finish talking?"

Stoick shook his head. "I was just leaving."

He walked away and Gobber hovered anxiously by Hiccup, clearly more suspicious than Stoick.

"What?" Hiccup asked, as he began sharpening a sword.

"Well…you know…" Gobber hesitated. "Did you happen to hear…anything?"

"No," Hiccup lied easily, though his mind burned with questions. Why did Stoick think Hiccup was his son? He wasn't. That was plain as day.

And if he was, how had he ended up on Outcast Island?

Was that it? Had Stoick abandoned him to the mercy of the Outcasts?

But that wouldn't work, Hiccup realized. Stoick had acted like he'd had no idea how Hiccup had gotten there during his conversation with Gobber.

And furthermore, Hiccup realized, the kindly chief would never abandon his own son. Never.

Toothless munched contentedly on a bucket of fish behind the two as they worked, and every now and then Hiccup would reach over to pat his head and smile, but every time he turned back around he looked miserable.

* * *

**A/N: So what do you guys think? I'm really liking the way this story is shaping up, and I'm guessing I'll get a lot of inspiration to write from the next few episodes of Riders of Berk. For you who don't watch that, that's the show based off the movie, and that's where Alvin the Treacherous and Outcast Island and stuff come in. **

**Sorry if I confused anyone who doesn't watch the show, I just assumed every HTTYD fan did, but some of you guys were all like, 'what's Outcast Island?' so maybe not.**

**Thanks for all your support, guys, and warn me if anyone is getting OOC, which is pretty easy for me, particularly Astrid and Hiccup. Astrid is kinda girly when she wasn't in the movie and Hiccup is a real tough cookie when he's the biggest weakling in the tribe in the movie.**

***Cough* I'm rambling. I do that a lot with ANs. Thanks for dealing with it, and until next time!**


	19. No More

**A/N: A lot of people love the Hiccstrid, so this is a little bit for you guys!**

* * *

Astrid came to the forge to see Hiccup later that day, under the pretense of seeing Gobber.

Hey, she didn't want the weakling to get a big head.

She greeted him with a punch on the shoulder.

"He's taking his break now," she informed Gobber, and with that she tugged a resisting Hiccup outside.

When Astrid finally released him, they stood there in the cool autumn air together, staring at each other.

Hiccup gave her an awkward smile. "Umm…so what did you want?"

"I just wanted to talk for a few minutes," Astrid confessed. "Is that ok?"

Hiccup smiled for real this time and they sat down in the grass together.

She picked up a blade of grass and began absently playing with it, until the wind blew it far away from her.

"That's it!"

"What's it?" Hiccup turned to look at her.

"Well…you know how you always get really defensive about Outcast Island?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to retort, but Astrid put a finger on his lips. "Shh, shh." She picked up a thin blade of grass. "I'm summing it up for you in a way you can understand." Astrid pointed to the blade of grass. "This is you."

Thinking this was an insult to his size, Hiccup opened his mouth to fire off a sarcastic comment but at a steady look from her, he shut up.

The wind soon carried the blade of grass away, far away to where neither could reach it.

"That's you whenever somebody asks you about Outcast Island. You hide. The wind represents your defensiveness."

Astrid knew Hiccup would get it when it was explained like that.

Hiccup picked his own blade of grass, rubbing it between his forefinger and thumb.

Astrid could've sworn she saw him mouth the words, 'no more'.

He slipped the blade of grass inside his vest.


	20. Feeling Safe

Gobber told Hiccup that Stoick wanted to talk to him at the end of the day, but he would leave the forge door unlocked for Hiccup.

When Hiccup got there, Stoick had bread and stew on the table, but quickly fixed a bowl for Hiccup.

"I'm not staying to eat," Hiccup said. "What did you want?"

Stoick hesitated. "Do you plan on leaving Berk after the week is up? It already almost is, and you've nowhere to go."

Now it was Hiccup's turn to hesitate. For ten long minutes, he imagined staying on Berk. Having food. Not starving.

Having a place to sleep every night. Not a cold cell floor.

Being safe. Not crying himself to sleep every night and being afraid.

Not being hurt.

Hiccup chewed his lip, thinking it over. But he didn't need Berk, he reminded himself. His Viking stubbornness eventually won out. "Yes."

Stoick looked disappointed. "I'm sorry to hear that. Just know the offer still stands to stay with me, if you wish."

Hiccup felt tears forming in his eyes at the man's incredible kindness. Was he really being offered a home? He thought.

_Home._

"_Home!" Hiccup wailed. The voice echoed all along the dripping dungeon walls, and he buried his face in his handcuffed arms and cried._

_Eventually, Alvin himself came along. "Stop that ridiculous crying, boy," he snarled, jerking him up by his hair. "I should've just killed you and been done with it."_

Hiccup sat there, overcome with emotion at the man who seemed to care about him when he'd never been cared about before.

"Hiccup?"

"Mm?"

The question wouldn't come.

So Stoick stood, and walked slowly over to Hiccup's side of the table.

Hiccup's posture and eyes changed: his back stiffened, and he was suddenly sitting rigidly upright and his eyes narrowed and he looked Stoick up and down.

Stoick knew it wasn't the Viking thing to hug someone, so he didn't, although he would've liked to.

He gripped Hiccup's scarred hand in his own. "I want you to know that—

"I know."

"What?"

"I know. You had a stillborn. You think it's me. It's not. And you don't want me for a son, anyway."

"How did you—?"

"I heard you talking to Gobber this morning. You guys are pretty loud."

Hiccup took his hand away from Stoick's and stood. "I'm leaving Berk in three days. That's when the week is up."

His voice took on a formal quality and he left the house.

Stoick watched him walk away.

When he was at the edge of the yard, Hiccup turned back and bent down on the ground, crumpling dead leaves in his hands, feeling their rough texture over his hands.

He let them fall back out of his palms as he walked away, knowing that a short while later he'd be saying goodbye to the only place he'd ever felt safe.

* * *

**A/N: OH MY GODS! I GOT 90 REVIEWS! **

**Lol. I just never thought I'd hit that many. My apologies. *cough* Anyway, thank you to everyone who helped me reach this! Please keep reviewing! (I must confess a secret desire to hit 100 reviews...greedy, I know, but it seems cool. However, I will not post the newest chapter if I do hit them, I just think it would be cool. I don't really expect to, though.)**

**Thanks everyone who supports me in this story! :-)**


	21. Thunderstorm

**A/N: You guys are going to hate me for this chapter. And Toothless, if it's possible. Toothless just has a really untimely moment in part of this chapter LOL. Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

It came on so suddenly no one ever knew what had happened.

For two days, Hiccup felt forlorn at the thought of leaving, but afraid at the thought of staying.

But then the storm came, the wild, ferocious storm that tore apart boats and ripped masts apart.

It split the sky with its crackling lightning and unleashed rain by the buckets.

The rain pounded the windows and the thunder boomed loudly.

"Thor must be angry," Stoick commented, all alone in his old house.

There was a knock on his door, splitting the silence.

He turned and opened it, wondering who was calling at this hour.

Hiccup stood there, red hair soaked, arms crossed.

"Hiccup? What are you doing here?" Stoick asked. He rushed Hiccup inside. "Why did you come in this storm?"

"I was wondering if I could stay with you until it ended."

"Why?"

Hiccup looked up and met Stoick's eye. "Because I'm scared."

"What?"

Hiccup didn't look very scared, but with each boom of thunder, he jumped a little. "We got a really bad storm…"

"What?" Hiccup wasn't making any sense.

"We got a really bad storm," Hiccup continued. "The night I…" He closed his eyes. "The night Alvin found out."

"Found out what?"

Hiccup looked down.

"Go get changed," Stoick said. He took an old tunic and leggings that used to be his son's and pitched them at Hiccup.

Hiccup caught them, just barely. He left the room and entered again, in dry clothes.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For coming here. I should go…"

"No. Stay. I want you to stay, Hiccup."

Hiccup nodded and sat down on the floor.

"Where's Toothless?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Out there, probably, he loves storms."

"You're not worried about him?"

"He can take care of himself."

Stoick went to the kitchen table and Hiccup followed.

"Alvin found out about Toothless."

"What?"

"Outcasts were like the Vikings of Berk. Fought dragons. I met Toothless, and became convinced not all dragons were bad."

Stoick watched the features of his face scrunch up and unfurl as he talked. "I tried convincing Alvin of it and a storm started.

Alvin…disowned me." He spoke in an emotionless voice.

Stoick flinched at the pain he was sure Alvin had caused. "He disowned you? How could he?"

"He didn't have the proof you do that dragons can be good. I showed the people everything I could, but nobody believed me.

."So he probably planned to banish me, and kill Toothless but he locked me up instead, probably because he didn't know where to banish an Outcast to."

"Why didn't he kill you?"

"Well, I think he was going to, but before he could, he had one of his few bright ideas."

Stoick would have chuckled, but the bitterness in the boy's tone stopped him.

"What was his bright idea? Hiccup, what did he DO to you?"

Hiccup slowly began to speak. "His bright idea was—

There came a scraping sound at the door.

Stoick got up and opened it and Toothless walked in and right up to Hiccup.

Sopping wet, he shook himself, much like a dog when it gets wet, and dousing the fire.

Stoick moved to start it again and collided with something hot and scaly and gave a loud, un-Viking-like squeal before realizing it was Toothless' side.

Hiccup yelled, "Toothless, will you give us some fire?"

Toothless complied, scaring the heck out of Stoick, who had not expected it.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at Stoick as he sat back down. "I'm just going to pretend I didn't see that," Hiccup informed the man.

Toothless came trotting over and licked Hiccup's cheek. Hiccup chuckled and hugged the dragon tightly.

Stoick felt a sudden flash of wild anger. Alvin the Treacherous had mangled this boy, robbed him of his innocent childhood, abandoned him with a broken heart and a Night Fury.

He felt weary of the Viking life. Why did men have to hurt others? For their own gain? For power? For revenge?

Hiccup looked up and caught Stoick's eye. "What?"

Stoick shook himself. "Nothing."

Hiccup awkwardly pulled away from the dragon and started a little as another boom of thunder shook the hut.

He sat on the floor, and eventually Stoick joined him in playing with Toothless and watching the Night Fury play with the firelight.

At last, Stoick saw Hiccup fall back and, scared, he stood. "Hiccup? Hiccup?"

Then he nearly chuckled, for Hiccup was breathing quite normally and did not appear harmed, merely deeply asleep.


	22. Before I Say

**A/N: GAH! Oh my Thor, the FEELS! LOL. Thanks for your reviews, guys! I am thisclose to a hundred, but even if I don't get it, I will be happy just getting this many!**

**P.S: Yeah...I hated that previous thing. So I edited it again :-)**

* * *

Stoick picked Hiccup up in his arms and carried him to the empty bedroom upstairs.

He pulled the blanket over him, and Hiccup curled into a ball beneath the blanket, murmuring in his sleep.

Stoick laid a hand on the boy's shaggy, copper-colored hair and watched him sleep for a few minutes.

Then he left, leaving Hiccup to his first peaceful sleep since arriving on Berk.

* * *

When Hiccup awoke the next morning, he sat up. "Where am I?" For one awful moment, he thought he was back with Alvin, but no; Alvin would never have given him blankets.

Struggling to remember everything that had happened, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked down the stairs, realizing he was in Stoick's house.

Stoick was getting ready to leave for his chiefly duties, but stopped when he saw Hiccup.

"Hi, Hiccup," he greeted cheerfully, waving.

"Morning, Dad," Hiccup said. "Hey, where'd you…put my…clothes…" His voice trailed off as he began to realize what he'd just said.

He swallowed and walked toward the door, but before he could Stoick embraced him.


	23. The Purple Death

Stoick was pulled away from his house that night by Toothless and Mulch bursting in, both looking frantic, though for very different reasons.

"DRAGON ATTACK!" Mulch exclaimed. "THERE'S A GIGANTIC DRAGON ON THE BEACH!"

"What is it doing?"

Mulch seemed to calm down a little. "It's huge, but it's not really DOING anything. Well, talking to Hiccup, of course."

"What?!"

"Hiccup is talking to it, cool as you please. When he saw it, he just went right down and started talking to it. We reckon it got washed up on our beach by the storm last night."

Stoick said, "Well, of course, it must be moved. Or killed."

* * *

Hiccup sat, Indian style, facing the dragon.

He was focusing hard on the gigantic thing, trying to think of a way to help it without letting any other Vikings know about it. It had just been he and Mulch and Gobber, he and Gobber taking a break from the forge and Mulch looking for Bucket.

Stoick suddenly came over to Hiccup and stared down at the dragon. "Leave while she's weak."

The dragon seemed to be trying to say something, but that would be crazy.

She jerked her great, ugly head towards another part of the beach, and Hiccup looked over at it.

It was a great, purple lump, as deep violet as this dragon was green.

Hiccup stood, letting his fingers glide gently over the green dragon's scales, and walked toward the purple lump.

Then it moved.

Hiccup drew back with a gasp, but continued walking. It had startled him, but it hadn't scared him.

He bent down and saw that, up close, it truly was a dragon. But it was smaller than the green one, appeared to be male, and was a beautiful deep purple.

"Hey, big guy," Hiccup said, bending down to look at him.

The dragon shot a jet of flame at him that Hiccup dodged.

"Whoa," he breathed. But he bent down again. He saw quite clearly that this dragon was dying, but if it were to die, Hiccup could only guess the havoc it would try to wreak on Berk in its last few moments of life.

He held his hand out for the dragon's snout, but the dragon hissed weakly at him and pulled away.

"C'mon, big guy, I'm not gonna hurt you," Hiccup said. "Let me help you." Dragons didn't die of old age. Of all the things Hiccup knew about the creatures, that was one of them. Dragons simply didn't die out of nowhere, from a natural cause. They had to be killed or mortally wounded.

"Get away from that thing, Hiccup, before it kills you!" Stoick said suddenly.

Hiccup stood and backed up next to Stoick.

"This one is dying," Stoick said, "but what are we going to do about the other one?"

Hiccup thought for a second. "Well, I guess it depends on if the dragon can be trained or not. I would say most dragons are trainable, but you never know."

When the purple creature at last succumbed to death, Hiccup went to talk to the green dragon.

* * *

**A/N: OH MY GODS I GOT OVER 100 REVIEWS! GAH OH THOR OH THOR OH ODIN ABOVE OH GAH GODS I GOT 100 FREAKING REVIEWS I NEVER THOUGHT I'D GET THIS MANY!**

**This chapter took a little while, because I knew I wanted to make the Green Death female, like in the movie, but make her wash up on Berk's shores, like in the book. It was a hard balance to strike, not to mention I really wanted Hiccup's ability to speak Dragonese in here, but my introduction of it was awkward and not at all fitting, so I just gave up. So Hiccup CAN'T speak it, but he CAN talk to dragons, but they can't talk back, although they understand him because dragons are brilliant creatures. Except some. Some dragons are too stupid to live.**

**Anyways, now that that rant is out of the way, I'm done here. I'm also not sure how to go about what happened on Outcast Island, mostly because I knew exactly what happened in the beginning, but all of a sudden, Stoick had a dead son and a stillborn, so it changed bits of it. Not to mention I actually rather forgot some details about what happened on Outcast Island in the first place. I know huge chunks of what happened, though, enough to put together the story.**

**I also considered ending it on chapter 22 with: "What do you think happened to Hiccup on Outcast Island?" but reflected that you guys would suffer from Reader Rage and hunt me down.**


	24. Battling the Green Death

"Hiccup!" Stoick said, "be careful!"

Hiccup looked back once and nodded, then continued plodding on in the direction of the female dragon.

He mentally called her 'the Green Death'; green for the color of her magnificent shining scales and 'death' because she seemed so deadly.

The Green Death stood up on all four legs and growled deep in her throat; her eyes locked on his and she approached him slowly.

"Hey," he said softly, "it's ok. It's ok." He held out a hand.

She roared at him.

He drew his hand back. "Okay. So maybe that doesn't work."

Stoick saw her building up a fireball. "Hiccup, get down!"

Hiccup didn't listen, continued walking steadily toward the dragon. Confused, the Green Death swallowed her fire back and stared as he approached.

The moment he got near, she picked him up between her teeth.

"HICCUP!"

Astrid came running. "What's going on?" Toothless was by her side, which Stoick found odd; the girl and the dragon had not taken kindly to one another.

Toothless saw what was happening and struggled to fly up to the Green Death, but couldn't.

Looking down, Astrid saw he had a prosthetic tail fin.

He couldn't fly unless somebody was controlling him, but only Hiccup knew how to work the prosthetic fin…

The Green Death fished him out with one talon and examined the boy for a second.

Boy and dragon regarded each other.

Then her eyes locked on Toothless.

Hiccup didn't seem afraid, and that was what made Astrid wonder. Seconds away from death, and he wasn't absolutely terrified?

He looked directly at his dragon, using a hand gesture that looked like, 'hover'.

Toothless got up and hovered in the air for a few moments before crashing back down.

The Green Death was delighted that the Night Fury was weak; easy prey, she thought.

That Night Fury getting away had rankled for four long years, ever since he'd gone out one night to raid a distant island and hadn't come back.

She heard reports of the faithful dragons still at her side: the Night Fury was said to be trapped in a gorge, his left tail fin cut off.

A few weeks later, the dragons reported sightings of him swooping around the island with an extraordinarily small Viking upon his back.

This must be the Viking they had been discussing, she realized. She would take out the Night Fury first, THEN the boy.

She wanted to make sure the job was done this time.

She had been intending to kill him anyway, a few days before he lost his tail and never came back.

He hadn't been serving her like he used to; he was unfaithful and rude nowadays and she hadn't liked it one bit.

Now was the time to strike, and take him out.

She spat the Viking out and he collapsed onto the grass below.

She was going for the Night Fury, but before she could, the boy cried an unfamiliar word, then shot over to the dragon and climbed upon his back.

How sweet that they will die together, she thought, reaching for the Night Fury, but the dragon took off into the sky and circled around her head, the Viking looking too smug for his own good, she thought.

She wanted to bash the Viking off with her tail and let him drown in the icy sea below them, but it would be far better to kill them both, make sure neither could come back to taunt her again.

So she delicately reached for the Fury with her claws, only to find he'd swooped away precious seconds before.

"Behind you!" a voice taunted. "Turn around, why don't you, you great, ugly beast?"

The Green Death turned and spotted her prey dangling just above her head, the boy practically leaning off the dragon, his fingers trailing along her green scales.

She snapped at him, expecting his arm to come off in her mouth, but no; they'd swooped away again!

Chastising herself for not finishing the Night Fury quicker, she glanced around again.

The voice came again. "Come on, why don't you actually CHALLENGE us for Thor's sake? That purple dragon was ten times more intelligent than you!"

Now the Green Death and the Purple Death had had a long history together as sworn enemies, and this annoyed the Green Death, but she was a dragon of calm.

She spat a fireball in the direction of the voice, and heard a careless laugh as they swooped away.

"I'm offended that you think you can destroy me with just that!"

The Green Death shot another fireball at him, but missed once again.

Determined to beat him now, she clawed at the dragon, but found she was pawing only empty air.

Then she opened her mouth to build up a fireball.

Then the unfamiliar cry came again, just before the fireball left her throat. "Toothless! NOW!"

The Night Fury shot a fireball directly at the Green Death.

It lit the insides of her mouth, colliding with the fire of the Green Death.

And then she simply exploded.

* * *

**A/N: 113 reviews?! WOW! **

**Also, I tried mixing book and movie. How'd I do? Well, this fanfiction is almost over. I don't know exactly how Hiccup is gonna spill the beans about Outcast Island, but I know that he IS going to...somehow, LOL. **

**Meanwhile, I'm trying to work on "Shattered" and "Our Duty is To Protect" but I just don't have anymore inspiration for Shattered and Our Duty is to Protect just sucks eggs.**

**Thanks for reading and please leave a review! **


	25. The Aftermath

For a few tense, breathless moments, nothing was seen of Hiccup and Toothless, but then dragon emerged from the smoke and the boy smiled triumphantly.

The dragon landed, allowing the boy to climb off.

Clutching Toothless for support, Hiccup gave an exhausted smile.

Astrid ran forward and punched him on the shoulder. "How—why—how the—?"

Stoick smiled proudly down at the boy, who rubbed his arm and grinned at Astrid.

Stoick put a gigantic hand on Hiccup's shoulder. Then he threw Viking dignity to the winds and embraced the boy, hugging him tightly until he protested, "I…can't breathe…"

Stoick boomed with laughter and released him. "You were amazing."

Hiccup turned red. "No I wasn't."

Grinning at the young man's modesty, Stoick gave up the argument and changed the subject noticeably. "Hiccup…"

Vikings started running, bits of dragon skin in their hair and Viking helmets smoking slightly.

"There was a gigantic explosion!" Gobber protested, peeling his helmet off. "What…what happened?" His voice turned into a whimper halfway through.

Hiccup hesitated and Stoick said with a smile, "Nothing too interesting. Hiccup just blew up a dragon."

"Toothless blew up the dragon," Hiccup corrected him. "It wasn't me."

"Hiccup WHAT?" Gobber demanded.

"Toothless blew up the—Hiccup tried, but another Viking spoke over him as well, so he gave up.

Stoick finally managed to give the Vikings of Berk a shortened version of the story and shook them off, dragging Hiccup back to his house.

Stoick firmly told Hiccup he needed sleep, though the boy protested with arguments of he wasn't tired.

"Would you like something to eat before you sleep?"

"I'm not tired, dude. Er, Stoick."

'Dude' was a highly disrespectful term for the chief of Berk.

There was a second of silence as they exchanged smiles and Hiccup said, "Fine! I'll go upstairs!"

Stoick smiled. "Ah, that's more like it."

Hiccup turned to go, but stopped on the second stair and sat down. "Stoick?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me over. And for being so nice."

"You're welcome." Stoick replied, bewildered.

Hiccup put one hand on the step he was sitting on. "I never thought anyone would catch me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Outcast Island. I'm talking about Outcast Island."

* * *

**A/N: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CLIFFIEEEEEEEE! **

**Aren't I evil? :D **

**Thanks for all the reviews!**


	26. Thank You For Listening

**A/N: The scene where Hiccup tells Stoick what happened. Enjoy!**

* * *

"I never thought they would catch us."

Stoick listened closely as Hiccup talked. "I lived on Outcast Island for nine years. When I was ten, I met Toothless. He wasn't fully-grown; he was only just trying out his wings and fire, so he wasn't really sure what to do.

He was barely out of babyhood, so he was as curious about me as I was about him. So he kept coming back.

One day, he didn't come back to me the way I thought he would.

"Instead, he was shot down by a bola. They were searching for him, and the bola had cut off his left tail fin, so he couldn't fly.

I was the only one small enough to go into the entrance of the cove – boulders mostly blocked it.

So I hid Toothless in a cave with some fish so he could eat if he got hungry, told him to stay there and not come out until I came for him, and told Alvin I'd checked the place where he was – it was a really big cove.

"Well, Alvin swallowed it, but I don't think it's because he's stupid, just because he didn't suspect me trying to protect the Night Fury.

So they searched the rest of the forest and left.

Then I went right back to the cove and got Toothless again.

I began constructing a prosthetic tail fin for him. I was about eleven then, and I knew I was pretty good at inventing stuff.

"So I made him a prosthetic fin – took me a few tries, I wasn't quite sure how a dragon's tail worked and I needed to make something to help me hold on, because clinging to his ears didn't do the trick.

So I finally got it right and we flew every day. Sometimes, we'd even fly at night. He stuck out like a sore thumb in broad daylight, but he was born for night flying.

Anyway, we started riding at night instead – safer, less chance of detection. But then, by the time I was twelve, I'd had enough. I was sick of standing by and letting Outcasts kill innocent dragons. But Outcasts weren't like the people of Berk – they were harder to convince, more set in their ways. I wasn't going to TRY to convince them. To do so would be near suicidal, not to mention they might put two-and-two together and try and find Toothless. That was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

"So I just decided to leave. As soon as we set off, the arrows started flying. I didn't know what was happening…halfway through, we got turned around, and I fell off Toothless.

They saw me fall, and Toothless kind of panicked a little, but I managed to get back on him. But I couldn't steer him. I looked back and saw that they had been shooting some arrows that were on fire. One had pierced Toothless' tail, but it was made of stern stuff. But the fire destroyed it, and we started falling again.

I managed to steer us over the water and we tried escaping via ocean, but before we got very far, Alvin was in his fastest boat and sailing right toward us.

He got us out of the water and brought us back to the island. We were lucky we got out when we did – a storm started just fifteen minutes later.

Alvin disowned me, and locked Toothless up.

When the excitement ended and no one was watching, I ran to Toothless and freed him.

We went back to the blacksmith forge on Outcast Island and I began building a new tail, but they caught me before we were entirely home free.

I was brought before Alvin again, and THIS time, he locked me up as well.

Less chance of escape, I guess.

I didn't sleep that night. I spent the entire night talking to Toothless and working out escape plans.

I needed to get back to the forge and finish the tail before I could leave, but I never got to put my plan into action before Alvin came again. He talked to me for a long time. Droned on and on about how I'd disgraced the blood of the Treacherous. How I ought to be banished. How I deserved to be killed.

"But he would have mercy, he told me. He would let me live, but force me to live forever a prisoner of the island.

I would have rather died, but if I had, who would have taken care of Toothless? I had to be there for him. I wasn't just surviving for one anymore.

So I accepted the setback. But I never stopped hoping I'd get away.

"Alvin started 'punishing me' for befriending Toothless and trying to escape. Cutting me with long daggers, burning me, you get the point. Then his bright idea came, and it wasn't a pleasant one.

He thought of keeping dragons and forcing them to do work for us…fight battles for us…conquer our enemies…if I relinquished the secret of dragon training, he would let me live. And let Toothless go free.

I wanted to agree, for Toothless' sake. But I'd be betraying his kind, and selling him into a life of slavery. I couldn't agree to that.

He began asking me about it daily. Sometimes he just would whip me if I didn't tell.

Other times, it was pretty bad."

"How bad?"

"Stoick, I know you're tough. But it would make you vomit."

Stoick accepted the answer, not as a snub but as a protective instinct, although Hiccup should not be trying to shelter the chief. "Go on."

"Well, I escaped. I escaped, and came here. I didn't bother trying to get the tail back. I just swam away with Toothless."

"How is that possible?"

"When you're desperate, Chief, anything's possible. Toothless let me climb on his back, and would go completely underwater for twenty-minute periods. Dragons have larger lungs and can hold their breath longer. So we managed to swim away. Toothless can also swim longer than most humans, because dragons have a lot more endurance and are a lot stronger. So we swam from there, but eventually, both of us had to sleep. So we saw this place, and thought to stay here, in the woods. Before we could make it that far, I was spitting out sand, and everything started going black. And when I woke up, I was with you guys."

"And that happened? All that happened? HOW COULD ALVIN DESTROY YOU LIKE THAT?"

"He didn't. I'm still here, aren't I?"

* * *

**A/N: I'm actually quite proud of this chapter. What do you guys think? I feel the story is very believable, but also has a darker edge with Alvin being very cruel, even to his own son.**

**I think this story is coming to an end real soon. If any of you just came thinking there would be Hicstrid, there will be, it will just be awhile.**

**Anyway, I considered putting this AN at the beginning, to torment you guys some more, but then I came to the conclusion you guys wouldn't read it, so I decided to put it here instead.**

**Thank you, all of you for the reviews.**


	27. Crying It Out

Stoick saw Hiccup was trembling.

"Hiccup…"

"No."

"Please. Let me help you."

"There's nothing to help." And then Hiccup cried all the tears he'd been holding back since Alvin had captured and disowned him, tortured and beaten him, demanded to know the secret of dragon training…

He cried for all the deaths he'd never gotten to grieve, cried for himself, because he was just so broken.

And he couldn't ever be fixed. Who cared enough to fix him?

When Hiccup at last cried himself dry of tears, he found he was exhausted.

Stoick had simply watched him cry, had not tried to comfort him with empty words.

But now he very quietly said, "Sleep, Hiccup. Go upstairs and sleep."

Hiccup stumbled up the stairs and fell onto the bed.

Now he was tired, he realized and with that he fell deeply asleep.

The crying had exhausted him.

* * *

**A/N: YES I KNOW IT WAS SHORT. And that it sucked. Yes, I noticed the hasty ending.**

**But come on, guys, I didn't think I was EVER going to write another word on this. Chapter 26 sucked up all my creative juices. I might go back and edit that one, then repost it.**

**Actually, I'll probably edit the whole dang story! This story had a good plot, but it wasn't what you would call professional writing.**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! I can't believe I hit over 100!**

**This story is almost over, but I don't want it to end here. It doesn't feel...right.**

**It feels too rushed. Which is why there's about two more chapters coming. However, I am working on a NEW story for HTTYD called "Hypnotic". (It's another AU...I'm very fond of those.) So my attention might be focused on that one for awhile. So there might be absences from this story.**


	28. Time

Stoick walked upstairs an hour later, calling, "Hiccup! Hiccup?"

Toothless opened one eye and used his tail to sweep Stoick aside.

Hiccup sat up, yawning and rubbing his forest green eyes with his knuckles.

He stretched, flicked a piece of auburn hair out of his eyes and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Hey, Dad."

He realized what he'd said again and opened his mouth, turning brilliant red.

"No," Stoick forestalled him. "Don't apologize. I would rather be your father than anything else in this world."

He gently took Hiccup by the hand and tugged him out of bed. "C'mon down. How do you feel?"

"Like I just got a burden off my shoulders."

* * *

Hiccup was about to go flying on Toothless when Astrid came up and punched him on the shoulder.

"Where are you going Hicc—

But she never got any farther, because Hiccup turned around, put both hands on his waist and kissed her.

Astrid responded eagerly, for she had been entertaining this idea for awhile.

She pulled away first, and saw he was smiling, his green eyes shining with affection.

For lack of anything better to do, and because it was her nervous habit, she punched him.

He winced.

She smiled at him and he reluctantly smiled back. He couldn't stay annoyed with her.

Then he said, "Astrid, I…I'm leaving."

"What?"

"I'm leaving Berk."

"Wha—no! Why would you—?"

"Because I can't stay here. This is the happiest I've ever been, but I don't want to stay here. I really like it, in fact, I love it here. But the problem is, I don't belong on Berk. Look at the people – they still barely trust me enough to let me walk the streets. And I wasn't made for a quiet little life on the peaceful Isle of Berk…don't you think?"

And looking at him, Astrid realized he didn't belong here.

He truly wanted to be soaring over open sea with Toothless every day, seeing the world. Not stuck on this island.

"Well, then—

"Shh." He pressed a finger to her lips. "That's another thing. You know I really like you. But I can't be with anyone right now."

"Why not?"

"Because I…" Hiccup hesitated. "I…" Then he slowly, reluctantly told her the story of Outcast Island.

Her blue eyes grew wide with horror. "Oh, Hiccup!" And suddenly, overcome by pity, she hugged him tightly.

Embarrassed, he said, "Astrid, I can't breathe!"

"Oh. Right." She released him.

He said, "So you see why I don't want to be with anyone. I need time." He rolled up his sleeve and showed her a scar on his hand. "You see this scar? It's always gonna be there. But with time it's gonna fade and grow fainter and fainter until I can't even remember the pain or exactly where and how I got it. That's just the way it is. I need time. I'll come back to you, Astrid, I promise. I'll come back to all of you. Just give me time."

Astrid stood there as he dropped her hand and watched as he climbed on Toothless, gave her a last, lingering look, then soared away.

And as they flew, she ran to the edge of the ocean, watched them until they became a speck on the horizon and when they had, she whispered, "I love you."

And the wind seemed to carry back Hiccup's shout of joy to her, and it sounded more like he was telling he loved her, too and that he would come back to her.

Just give him time.

**THE END **


End file.
